Holy Week, holy Shariah? Part 1

Like most Americans have done since our republic’s inception, this Holy Week millions of us across the country will commemorate the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. But what concerns me in America is not only the growing disdain for Christian sentiment but also the increasing spread of Shariah law.

There’s no mystery that radical Islamists intend to use the freedoms in our Constitution to expand the influence of Shariah law. But, still, too many Americans don’t know or understand how it threatens the very fabrics of our republic. So I’ve decided to do a series on how Shariah is seeping into American society.

First, let me categorically state that I’m not an Islamaphobe. I welcome the plurality of religions in America and am a firm believer in the First Amendment. But just as our religious freedom is secured in the Bill of Rights, so is our freedom of speech to share even our religious concerns.

For those who might not know, the Arabic term Shariah literally means “the path to be followed,” denoting its nature as a guide for a blessed life. Shariah is derived from both the Quran (Muslim scriptures) and Sunna (Islamic custom, piety and practice). In short, Shariah is Islamic law, a religious code for living, which is a system of moral, religious, social and civic laws. Shariah details and decrees proper benevolence, prayers, fasting, dress, business practices, marital and relational conduct, sexual offenses, custody, contracts, inheritance, etc.

Shariah can and does serve as the basis for Islamic state laws while also serves to transcend it. Lynn Welchman, director of the Centre for Islamic and Middle Eastern Law, explained, “Sharia governs the lives of people in ways which are not governed by the law.” She added, “Over 50 countries are members of the Organization of Islamic Conference, and you can expect there will be some form of compliance with Sharia – either in people’s personal lives or enforced through the courts by the state. A lot of states in the Middle East are taking more elements of Sharia into their state laws.”

Shariah law has been adopted in different ways by various countries, ranging from a narrow and strict interpretation in Saudi Arabia and northern states of Nigeria, to a loose and liberal interpretation in much of Malaysia. Some Shariah offenses are criminal and require imprisonment. Others incur hadd penalty, which are crimes punishable by penalties like stoning, flogging or amputation. There are five hadd crimes: sex outside of marriage and adultery, false accusation of unlawful sexual intercourse, wine drinking (sometimes extended to include all alcohol drinking), theft and highway robbery.

While most Islamic states have adopted elements of Shariah into law, only some have adopted hadd offenses, like Iran, Saudia Arabia, Nigeria and Pakistan (though the latter is lax in enforcement). Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon have been reserved from adopting hadd offenses. Still, other countries like Turkey have essentially abandoned Shariah law in favor of new law codes based on European systems.

The main point here is this: Where Muslim religion and culture has spread, Shariah law has shortly followed.

Of course, many Americans watch on video a Middle Eastern woman allegedly caught in adultery, buried in the ground up to her head and being stoned to death, and think, “That could never happen in America.” But they fail to see how Shariah law has already been enabled and subtly invoked in our country, and that any such induction like it is brought about by understated lukewarm changes, like a frog boiled in a kettle by a slow simmer.

For those who don’t believe in that Shariah simmer, consider in just the past few months that:

A Florida judge ruled that a dispute between Muslim parties could proceed under Shariah law. “This case,” the judge wrote, “will proceed under Ecclesiastical Islamic Law.”

Alabama is joining a growing list of states that are considering outlawing the use of foreign and religious laws, specifically Muslim Shariah law, in their courts.

President Barack Obama’s adviser on Muslim affairs, Dalia Mogahed, appeared on a British television show hosted by a member of an extremist group to talk about Shariah law. Miss Mogahed said the Western view of Shariah was “oversimplified” and that the majority of women around the world associate it with “gender justice.” Does she really think that Shariah is the ideological bastion of gender equality?

In the end, it seems to me we have a choice to believe that Shariah law is, or is not, a pro-Islamic system of civic, religious, moral and social laws, which is being used to run other countries and governments but is not being (nor ever will be) invoked to run ours, based upon the belief that our constitutional republic and Bill of Rights is inferior.

Many think we should just drink the Kool-Aid and adopt the “very small” changes of Shariah law, as Sheikh Ibrahim Mogra described them when being questioned about its influence in Great Britain: “We’re looking at a very small aspect of Sharia for Muslim families when they choose to be governed with regards to their marriage, divorce, inheritance, custody of children and so forth.”

Then again, maybe Sheikh Mogra explained between the lines everything we need to know when he said, “It is very complex. It is not as straightforward as saying that we will have a system [in Britain]. We do not wish to see a parallel system or a separate system of judiciary for Muslims. … We’ve seen examples of this in Ontario in Canada and in Singapore, where systems have worked very well.”